The paper shortly reviews the basic direct approaches applied in searching for viable solutions to solar fuel production. These are generally distinguished in molecular and semiconductor(non-molecular)systems, however...The paper shortly reviews the basic direct approaches applied in searching for viable solutions to solar fuel production. These are generally distinguished in molecular and semiconductor(non-molecular)systems, however, hybrid strategies, proposed recently, have also been included. The most promising efforts are considered, highlighting key aspects and emerging critical issues. Special attention is paid to aspects such as electrode architecture, device design, and main differences in the scientific vision and challenges to directly produce solar fuels. This overview could be useful to orientate the readers in the wide panorama of research activities concerning water splitting, natural and artificial photosynthesis, and solar fuel production through the identification of common aspects, specialties and potentialities of the many initiatives and approaches that are developing worldwide in this field with the final aim to meet world energy demand.展开更多
Abiotic-biological hybrid systems that combine the advantages of abiotic catalysis and biotransformation for the conversion of carbon dioxide(CO2)to value-added chemicals and fuels have emerged as an appealing way to ...Abiotic-biological hybrid systems that combine the advantages of abiotic catalysis and biotransformation for the conversion of carbon dioxide(CO2)to value-added chemicals and fuels have emerged as an appealing way to address the global energy and environmental crisis caused by increased CO2 emission.We illustrate the recent progress in this field.Here,we first review the natural CO2 fixation pathways for an in-depth understanding of the biological CO2 transformation strategy and why a sustainable feed of reducing power is important.Second,we review the recent progress in the construction of abiotic-biological hybrid systems for CO2 transformation from two aspects:(i)microbial electrosynthesis systems that utilize electricity to support whole-cell biological CO2 conversion to products of interest and(ii)photosynthetic semiconductor biohybrid systems that integrate semiconductor nanomaterials with CO2-fixing microorganisms to harness solar energy for biological CO2 transformation.Lastly,we discuss potential approaches for further improvement of abiotic-biological hybrid systems.展开更多
Multi-cluster tools are widely used in majority of wafer fabrication processes in semiconductor industry. Smaller lot production, thinner circuit width in wafers, larger wafer size, and maintenance have resulted in a ...Multi-cluster tools are widely used in majority of wafer fabrication processes in semiconductor industry. Smaller lot production, thinner circuit width in wafers, larger wafer size, and maintenance have resulted in a large quantity of their start-up and close-down transient periods. Yet, most of existing efforts have been concentrated on scheduling their steady states.Different from such efforts, this work schedules their transient and steady-state periods subject to wafer residency constraints. It gives the schedulability conditions for the steady-state scheduling of dual-blade robotic multi-cluster tools and a corresponding algorithm for finding an optimal schedule. Based on the robot synchronization conditions, a linear program is proposed to figure out an optimal schedule for a start-up period, which ensures a tool to enter the desired optimal steady state. Another linear program is proposed to find an optimal schedule for a closedown period that evolves from the steady state period. Finally,industrial cases are presented to illustrate how the provided method outperforms the existing approach in terms of system throughput improvement.展开更多
Photoluminescence of GaAs0.973Sb0.022N0.005 is investigated at different temperatures and pressures. Both the alloy band edge and the N-related emissions, which show different temperature and pressure dependences, are...Photoluminescence of GaAs0.973Sb0.022N0.005 is investigated at different temperatures and pressures. Both the alloy band edge and the N-related emissions, which show different temperature and pressure dependences, are observed. The pressure coefficients obtained in the pressure range 0-1.4GPa for the band edge and N-related emissions are 67 and 45meV/GPa, respectively. The N-related emissions shift to a higher energy in the lower pressure range and then begin to redshift at about 8.5GPa. This redshift is possibly caused by the increase of the X-valley component in the N-related states with increasing pressure.展开更多
Based on the non-equilibrium Green＇s function formalism and first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic transport properties of an anthracene-based molecular switch with two carbon nanotube electrode...Based on the non-equilibrium Green＇s function formalism and first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic transport properties of an anthracene-based molecular switch with two carbon nanotube electrodes. Our results show that different terminations at the carbon nanotube end strongly affect the transport properties of the switch. In the case of H-termination the current at low biases is dominated by non-resonant tunneling. In the N-termination case the current at low biases is dominated by quasi-resonant tunneling and is increased by several orders of magnitude. The enhancement is discussed by the molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian level, transmission function, and local density of states.展开更多
Recently, a new switching characteristic of double-walled carbon nanotubes （DWNTs） transistors is found in during experiments. We carry out a series of ab intio calculations on DWNTs＇ electronic properities, togeth...Recently, a new switching characteristic of double-walled carbon nanotubes （DWNTs） transistors is found in during experiments. We carry out a series of ab intio calculations on DWNTs＇ electronic properities, together with verification on the electronic response under the electric field. Our results reveal that the peculiar energy states relation in DWNTs and related contact modes should account for the distinct switching behavior of DWNT transistors. We believe these results have important implications in the fabrication and understanding of electronic devices with DWNTs.展开更多
Phase change random access memory （PC-RAM） based on Si2Sb2Te5 with a Pt tapered heating electrode （Pt-THE）, which is fabricated using a focus ion beam （FIB）, is investigated. Compared with the tungsten electrode...Phase change random access memory （PC-RAM） based on Si2Sb2Te5 with a Pt tapered heating electrode （Pt-THE）, which is fabricated using a focus ion beam （FIB）, is investigated. Compared with the tungsten electrode, the Pt-THE facilitates the temperature rise in phase change material, which causes the decrease of reset voltage from 3.6 to 2.7 V. The programming region of the cell with the Pt-THE is smaller than that of the cell with a cylindrical tungsten heating electrode. The improved performance of the PC-RAM with a Pt-THE is attributed to the higher resistivity and lower thermal conductivity of the Pt electrode, and the reduction of the programming region, which is also verified by thermal simulation.展开更多
基金Financial support from the Italian MIUR through the PRIN Project 2015K7FZLH SMARTNESS“Solar driven Chemistry:New materials for photo-and electro-catalysis”
文摘The paper shortly reviews the basic direct approaches applied in searching for viable solutions to solar fuel production. These are generally distinguished in molecular and semiconductor(non-molecular)systems, however, hybrid strategies, proposed recently, have also been included. The most promising efforts are considered, highlighting key aspects and emerging critical issues. Special attention is paid to aspects such as electrode architecture, device design, and main differences in the scientific vision and challenges to directly produce solar fuels. This overview could be useful to orientate the readers in the wide panorama of research activities concerning water splitting, natural and artificial photosynthesis, and solar fuel production through the identification of common aspects, specialties and potentialities of the many initiatives and approaches that are developing worldwide in this field with the final aim to meet world energy demand.
文摘Abiotic-biological hybrid systems that combine the advantages of abiotic catalysis and biotransformation for the conversion of carbon dioxide(CO2)to value-added chemicals and fuels have emerged as an appealing way to address the global energy and environmental crisis caused by increased CO2 emission.We illustrate the recent progress in this field.Here,we first review the natural CO2 fixation pathways for an in-depth understanding of the biological CO2 transformation strategy and why a sustainable feed of reducing power is important.Second,we review the recent progress in the construction of abiotic-biological hybrid systems for CO2 transformation from two aspects:(i)microbial electrosynthesis systems that utilize electricity to support whole-cell biological CO2 conversion to products of interest and(ii)photosynthetic semiconductor biohybrid systems that integrate semiconductor nanomaterials with CO2-fixing microorganisms to harness solar energy for biological CO2 transformation.Lastly,we discuss potential approaches for further improvement of abiotic-biological hybrid systems.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61673123,61803397)the Science and Technology Development Fund(FDCT)of Macao(106/2016/A3,005/2018/A1,011/2017/A,0017/2019/A1)
文摘Multi-cluster tools are widely used in majority of wafer fabrication processes in semiconductor industry. Smaller lot production, thinner circuit width in wafers, larger wafer size, and maintenance have resulted in a large quantity of their start-up and close-down transient periods. Yet, most of existing efforts have been concentrated on scheduling their steady states.Different from such efforts, this work schedules their transient and steady-state periods subject to wafer residency constraints. It gives the schedulability conditions for the steady-state scheduling of dual-blade robotic multi-cluster tools and a corresponding algorithm for finding an optimal schedule. Based on the robot synchronization conditions, a linear program is proposed to figure out an optimal schedule for a start-up period, which ensures a tool to enter the desired optimal steady state. Another linear program is proposed to find an optimal schedule for a closedown period that evolves from the steady state period. Finally,industrial cases are presented to illustrate how the provided method outperforms the existing approach in terms of system throughput improvement.
文摘Photoluminescence of GaAs0.973Sb0.022N0.005 is investigated at different temperatures and pressures. Both the alloy band edge and the N-related emissions, which show different temperature and pressure dependences, are observed. The pressure coefficients obtained in the pressure range 0-1.4GPa for the band edge and N-related emissions are 67 and 45meV/GPa, respectively. The N-related emissions shift to a higher energy in the lower pressure range and then begin to redshift at about 8.5GPa. This redshift is possibly caused by the increase of the X-valley component in the N-related states with increasing pressure.
基金Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province under Grant No ZR2009AL004.
文摘Based on the non-equilibrium Green＇s function formalism and first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic transport properties of an anthracene-based molecular switch with two carbon nanotube electrodes. Our results show that different terminations at the carbon nanotube end strongly affect the transport properties of the switch. In the case of H-termination the current at low biases is dominated by non-resonant tunneling. In the N-termination case the current at low biases is dominated by quasi-resonant tunneling and is increased by several orders of magnitude. The enhancement is discussed by the molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian level, transmission function, and local density of states.
文摘Recently, a new switching characteristic of double-walled carbon nanotubes （DWNTs） transistors is found in during experiments. We carry out a series of ab intio calculations on DWNTs＇ electronic properities, together with verification on the electronic response under the electric field. Our results reveal that the peculiar energy states relation in DWNTs and related contact modes should account for the distinct switching behavior of DWNT transistors. We believe these results have important implications in the fabrication and understanding of electronic devices with DWNTs.
基金Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant Nos 2007CB935400 and 2006CB302700, the National High-Technology Development Program of China （2008AA031402）, Science and Technology Council of Shanghai （0752nm013, 07QA14065, 07SA08, 08DZ2200700, 08JC1421700）, the National Nature Science Foundation of China （60776058）, and Chinese Academy of Sciences （083YQA1001）.
文摘Phase change random access memory （PC-RAM） based on Si2Sb2Te5 with a Pt tapered heating electrode （Pt-THE）, which is fabricated using a focus ion beam （FIB）, is investigated. Compared with the tungsten electrode, the Pt-THE facilitates the temperature rise in phase change material, which causes the decrease of reset voltage from 3.6 to 2.7 V. The programming region of the cell with the Pt-THE is smaller than that of the cell with a cylindrical tungsten heating electrode. The improved performance of the PC-RAM with a Pt-THE is attributed to the higher resistivity and lower thermal conductivity of the Pt electrode, and the reduction of the programming region, which is also verified by thermal simulation.
